The Tribune

HURRICANE Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm early on Thursday after slamming into the coast of Belize with winds of 80mph and moving inland over Guatemala and Mexico with heavy rains.

Earl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Belize City and was moving roughly westward, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. As it crossed northern Guatemala, Earl had sustained winds near 65mph. It was expected to continue weakening to a tropical depression by Thursday night or Friday morning.

Mexico discontinued all warnings associated with the storm and Belize replaced its hurricane warning with a tropical storm warning. The storm was centred about 90 miles west of Belize City and was moving west near 15mph.

Hotels along Belize's coast and the low-lying islands offshore had already pulled in awnings and beach chairs as the rains from the storm began whipping the coast on Wednesday evening.

Authorities in the Mexican coastal state of Quintana Roo, to the north of the hurricane's strike, reported some evacuations. Some people evacuated low-lying coastal areas in nearby Guatemala.

The NHC said heavy rains would be a danger in southern Mexico through Saturday as Earl crosses the Yucatan Peninsula into the states of Tabasco and Veracruz.

On Wednesday, Earl raked the northern coast of Honduras with heavy rain. Officials said a big wave capsized a lobster fishing boat in the Caribbean, but all but two of the 83 people on board were rescued. The navy was looking for the two missing. Authorities also rescued four families in the coastal city of Trujillo after a river flooded.

Lisandro Rosales, head of Honduras' emergency commission, said there were reports of large numbers of trees and utility poles being knocked down. Schools and universities closed across Honduras' coastal provinces, as did two commercial airports.

In Belize, the government opened storm shelters and used radio and television broadcasts to urge residents of low-lying areas to move to higher ground. Officials also ordered the international airport in Belize City to close, and archaeological reserves and national parks were shut. The Belize Tourism Board announced that cruise ship calls had been cancelled for this week.